CHANDIGARH: Farmers raised slogans outside the offices of district deputy commissioners and took out protest marches in Punjab and Haryana on Monday, following a nationwide call given by their unions against the new central laws.
The Haryana Police closed the Ambala-Patiala highway for a few hours after protesters gathered at the Shambhu border point with adjoining Punjab.
The ruling Congress also held protests in Punjab, with the state unit chief Sunil Jakhar participating in one near the Shambhu border.
Shiromani Akali Dal workers protested in Amritsar.
In Punjab, protests were held in several districts including Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur, Amritsar, Barnala, Gurdaspur, Bathinda, Moga, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Tarn Taran.
"Farmers held protests outside the offices of deputy commissioners at several places in Punjab," Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said.
Protest marches were also taken out, he said.
"Despite the cold weather, farmers including women and children participated in the agitations in large numbers," the union leader said.
In Punjab's Hoshiarpur, protesters carrying placards and union flags staged a sit-in and blocked traffic for over four hours outside the district administrative complex.
In Haryana, protests were reported from Fatehabad, Jind, Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bhiwani, Kaithal and Ambala.
Slogan-shouting protesters pushed at the barricades near the mini-secretariat in Jind, trying to enter the district office complex.
In Fatehabad, they took out a tractor procession before some of them sat on a hunger strike at the district secretariat.
In Ambala city too, there was slogan shouting outside the DC's office.
In Faridabad, farmers took out a march towards the secretariat.
A group of lawyers also sat on a 'dharna' there, extending support to the farmers.
Some employee unions in Haryana also extended support to the protesting farmers.
Memorandums were submitted to the Centre through the deputy commissioners at other places in Haryana, demanding the scrapping of the new laws.
"We want a legal guarantee on the MSP and the repeal of the farm laws," said a Fatehabad farmer.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana -- have been camping at the entry points to Delhi for days.
Monday's district-level protests were part of this agitation.
Farmer unions are seeking the repeal of the three agri-marketing laws enacted at the Centre in September.
Negotiations so far with the Centre have failed to break the deadlock over the laws, which the unions say weaken the minimum support price (MSP) system and will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.
The BJP-led government has assured that the system will stay and maintained that the laws will offer farmers more options for selling their crops.
the Indian National Lok Dal Monday announced it will "boycott" the upcoming municipal polls in Haryana in protest against the "atrocities" being allegedly committed on farmers by the Centre and the state's BJP-JJP governments.
Elections to the municipal bodies in Haryana are scheduled to be held on December 27.
Senior INLD leader and party MLA Abhay Singh Chautala in a statement issued here alleged BJP ministers are "insulting" the protesting farmers by calling them "terrorists and traitors".
He said his party has taken the decision to boycott the municipal polls in protest "against the atrocities being carried out by the Centre and the state governments on the 'Annadata' (the farmers)".
"The manner in which the BJP governments at the Centre and the state are ignoring the farmers is extremely painful and condemnable," he said.
He further said the BJP-JJP coalition government in Haryana "looted the farmers in the name of moisture cut on their crops in the mandis and then bought the crop of farmers at a lower price than the MSP (Minimum Support Price)".
"Today, farmers across the country are agitating against the three black agricultural laws made by the central government, but the BJP-led government's ministers are insulting them by calling them terrorists and traitors," he alleged.
The INLD leader the BJP-JJP government in the state is going to hold elections at a time when it has been 18 days for the country's farmers sitting in protest near Delhi's borders with their demands including repealing of the three agri laws.
He also alleged the state government has been taking various "anti-farmer" decisions.
Chautala said his party stands shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers, and he asked the Centre to accept their demands.
Nomination papers for the December 27 municipal elections can be filed between December 11 and 16, while the results will be declared on December 30.
The elections will be held for the seats of mayor and councillors of Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat municipal corporations; the president and members of the Rewari municipal council; and municipal committees of Sampla in Rohtak, Dharuhera in Rewari) and Ukalana in Hisar districts, state poll officials had earlier said.
The BJP-JJP combine is contesting the polls together.
The Congress too is fighting these elections.
The Punjab Congress on Monday held a protest near the state's Shambhu border with Haryana in support of farmers who are protesting against the Centre's new farm laws.
Several Congress MLAs from Punjab, including ministers, joined the agitation at the Shambhu border and slammed the BJP-led Centre for not acceding to the demand of farmers for repealing the laws.
The central government came out with these laws to "destroy" the farming sector, Congress leaders alleged.
Thousands of farmers are protesting at various border points of Delhi against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
They are demanding that these laws, which were enacted in September, be repealed.
Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, while addressing the gathering at the Shambhu border, hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government, saying that it is trying to "impose" the new agri laws on farmers.
Farmers have completely rejected the laws and they are staying put at Delhi's borders with their demand for repealing the legislations, he said.
Jakhar also claimed that everybody in Punjab is supporting farmers in their fight against the farm legislations.
Instead of proposing amendments in the farm laws, the Union government must rollback these legislations without any further delay, he said.
Slamming the Centre for enacting the laws, Jakhar said that it was the states that have the rights to do so and asked the central government to uphold the basic spirit of the Constitution.
He accused the Centre of trying to "benefit" the corporate sector with these laws.
The idea behind implementing the "black laws" is to "economically ruin" the farmers of Punjab by denying them minimum support price, the Congress leader alleged.
Jakhra alleged that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was also "hand in glove" with the BJP for enacting these legislations.
But now it is trying to show their exit from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as its "sacrifice", he said.
The SAD is not able to celebrate its 100th year of formation because of "misdeeds" of its leadership, Jakhar alleged.
The SAD had quit the BJP-led NDA over the farm laws issue in September.
Speaking on the occasion, All India Congress Committee general secretary Harish Rawat accused the Centre of attacking the federal structure by framing these laws.
He also said that farmers who give food to the nation were being projected as "Khalistanis" and "Tukde Tukde gang."
Rawat, who is also the Congress' in-charge of Punjab affairs, said,"We are proud that we were standing with farmers.
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal also hit out at the Centre for bringing the laws and the termed the legislations "anti-farmer".
He also accused the Centre of waiving huge amount of loans of the corporate sector but "failing" to announce any debt waiver for poor farmers.
Ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Sunder Sham Arora, Bharat Bhushan Aashu, Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, Vijay Inder Singh Singla and MPs Manish Tewari, Mohammad Sadiq and several party legislators were present at the protest.